Sweep rake and vehicle therefor



y 1941- .1. H. COPE ETAL SWEEP RAKE AND VEHICLE THEREFOR Filed May 11,1940 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 0714 47025 JQSi/W/ H. COPE- May 6, 1941.

J. H. COPE ETAL SWEEP RAKE AND VEHICLE THEREFOR Filed May 11, 1940 3Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORJ Jose/w H. co a/mom a. J may y 1941- J. H. COPEETAL 2,240,552

SWEEP RAKE AND VEHICLE THEREFOR Filed May 11, 1940 I5 Sheets-Sheet 5JOSiP/l H. 60, 5 642040 c. J. any

Patented May 6, 1941 swear RAKE Joseph H. Cope, Denver,

Gray, Hastings, Nebn, Land Roller Company, partnership consisting ANDVEHICLE THEREFOR 0010., and Garold C. J.

assignors to Western Hastings, Nebr., a coof Chas. M. George Anderson,Arthur H.

M. Anderson, Anderson, Edna F. Anderson, Paul Anderson and Carrie GlassApplication May 11, 1940, Serial No. 334,538

4 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in power operated sweep rakes andhas reference more particularly to a mechanism for supporting the rakeheads.

It is now quite customary to operate sweep rakes by means of gasolinetractor power and for this purposevarlous modifications of the horseoperated sweep rakes have been made and some patented.

When sweep rakes are operated :by tractor power it is customary tosupport the rake by wheels attached to the rake head and it is alsocustomary to support the rake head from the tractor.

Where sweep rakes are supported from the tractor, the additional loadthat must be supported by the front Wheels of the tractor becomesexcessive with the result that the unusual strain put upon the frontwheel tires serves to break them down and cause additional expense andtrouble during the time that the'rakes are thus employed.

Where the rakes are supported by separate wheels secured to the rakehead, as shown for example in United States Patent No. 1,477,919,granted to Spinney December 18, 1923, complicated mechanisms must beemployed for guiding the rake and such constructions also. make itdifficult to adjust the rake vertically with respect to the ground,which frequently becomes necessary where the best operation is desired.

The object of this invention is to produce a tractor operated, separatevehicle supported sweep rake that can be steered in the same manner astractor supported sweep rakes so that sharp turns may be made intransporting the load. 1

In order to describe this invention in such a way that it may be readilyunderstood, reference will now :be had to the accompanying drawings inwhich, the invention has been illustrated in its proved form and inwhich Figure 1 is a side elevation of the improved sweep rake andsupportingvehicle showin'g the same connected with a tractor. V v

Figure 2 is a top planview of the assembly shown in Figure 1, theposition of the tractor being indicated bybrokenlines.

Figure 3 is a front elevation of the assembly shown in Figure 1,

Figure 4 is a side elevation of the rake'head show the same detached inpart'from the vehicle; and v Figure 5 is a view showing the constructionof insofar as it forms an element of the two. spacedparallel transverseangle irons Braces the adjustable means employed for effecting aconnection with the tractor.

In the drawings the power vehicle has been illustrated as an ordinaryfarm tractor whose rear wheels have been designated by reference numeralI 0 and whose front wheels have been designated by reference numeral II.The tractor itself forms no part of this invention, except combinationand it will therefore not .be described to any greater extent thannecessary for the proper description of the rake supporting vehicle andthe rake which form the subjects of this invention.

The rake head is of the usual construction but in order to describe theinvention the construction of the rake head will have to be described inpart and is as follows: 1 l A plurality of rake teeth l2 are attached toI4 by bolts l5. Diagonal braces the rake teeth and transverse determinedposition. An angle, tioned above the transverse :bar I4 and is supportedby a plurality of vertical angle irons l8. l9 extend rearwardly fromsome of the vertical supports I8 to the rear ends of base I6 serve tohold bars in a preiron I1 is posimembers l9a so as'to form stresstriangles that scribed.

positively hold the vertical supports in a predetermined relationto theplane of the rake head. At-points spaced equi-distantly from the middleof the rake head are two bars 20 that extend upwardly a considerabledistance above the transverse bar I1 and these are held in place bymeans of braces 2| that extend ,to and connect with the assemblycomprising members 17, I8 and I 9.. Braces 22 are secured at the lowerends to the transverse bars I l and at their upper ends to the bars 20.The braces 22 serve to hold these bars from transverse movement.Attached to the upper ends of bars 20 by means of pivots 23 is apush-off 24 which functions in a way similar to that shown in U. S.Letters Patent No. 1,684,264 of September 11, 1928'. At two pointsspaced equi-distantly from the middle of the rake arepositioned apair'of vertical angle irons I8a that are spaced a short distance apart.The opposing flanges of these pairs of angle irons are provided withopenings 25 for the reception of pins by means of which the flattenedends of the supporting members 26 are secured in'place and about 7operation.

head supporting vehicle which willnow be del3 and v which pins the rakehead can pivot during 26 form part of a rake V tor of the tractor.

" attachment ismade tractor.

"34 that are The rake head is also provided with said members H and I.

The supporting vehicle is made in the form of an isosceles trianglewhose two sides have been designated by reference numeral 21 and whosebase has been designated by reference numeral 28. From Figure 2 it willbe seen that the ends of the side members project forwardly beyond thebase and have secured to each end a castor wheel assembly. The actualconstruction of the caster wheel assembly will not be described indetail as it is of usual construction and comprises avwheel 29 that'ismounted between the two arms of a fork30. The fork is mounted forpivotal movementin a vertical bearing which has'been designated byreference numeral 3|. Since the pivot 32 about which the wheels 29 turnare located to the rear of the axis of the bearing 31 the caster wheelswill be free to shift their position about the vertical axis so as totravel in the direction which is determined by the opera- The sides 21terminate in a coupling mechanism 32 by means of which an withthe drawbar D of the It will'be observed that the triangle comprising :sides 21and base 28 is such that it incloses the front wheels of the tractor.Brace members 33 have their rear ends pivotally secured to bracketsattached to the tractor and their front ends are positioned vbetweenspaced brackets 35,

. carried by-the base member 28. The pivotal connection between thefront ends of brace bars 33 and the supporting vehicle is effected bymeans of a pivot pin 36 that extends through the brackets 35 and throughthe braces 33. The pivot pin 36 extends through elongated openings inbars 313 so that no bending will take place when relative verticalmovement occurs between the tractor and the rake supporting vehicle.

The rake head is supported from the vehicle by means of the two bars 28,to which reference has already been made. The rear ends of bars 25 aresecured to the side members by means of clamps 38 and they are supportedfrom the base member 28 by means of supporting strips or clamps 39.Tension members 40 have their front ends pivotally connected with theinclined bars 29 b'ymeans of pivots 41 whose positions may be shifted toeither one of several openings provided in bars 20 for this purpose. Therear ends of tension members 49 are secured to the crank arms of a poweroperated tool hoist 42. When the bars 40 are moved rearwardly the rakehead will be tilted.counter-crosswise, when viewed-as in Figure 1, aboutits pivotal connections with the front ends of supporting bars 28.

From theabove description it will be apparent in that whenever a sweeprake is supported by the vehicle which, in turn is connected with atractor or other type of automotive vehicle, the operation of the rakecan be readily controlled by the driver ofv the tractor. The forwardlyacting force ex erted by the tractor is transmitted to the rake headthrough the sides 21 of the supporting vehicle. The rake head ispivotally supported from the ends of bars 26 and the diagonal braces 33,prevent relative lateral movement between the tractor and the supportingvehicle. Although the means for preventing lateral movement with respectto the tractor has been illustrated as comprising the diagonal braces33, it is evident that any equivalent means can be substituted. Sincesuch connection must permit free relative verticalmovement between thetractor and the supporting vehicle the by flexible tension membersextending in both directions from the tractor, if such constructionshould be found preferable to the one illustrated.

The distance from the plane of the rake teeth to the pivotal connectionbetween the rake head and the supporting bars 28, can be adjusted so asto change the ground pressure exerted by the mechanism during operation.

When therake is in operation the parts are positioned, as shown inFigure 1, but when a load has been gathered the operator can move thetool hoist 42 into operative position, whereupon the tension rods 40 aremoved rearwardly thereupon turning the rake head in a counterclockwisedirection. The load will be held in this positionby the action of thetool hoist.

It is evident from the above description that by supporting the rakehead from a separate vehicle the tractor will not be required to supportthe weight of the rake head and its load, as it must do whentheconstruction employed in some of the a great amount of weight to thefront wheels if the sides 21 were supported from the tractor while theload is transported and such excessive loads have been known to injurethe front wheel tires of the tractors and cause blow-outs andbreakdowns.

' By supporting the front ends of side members 21 on caster wheels andproviding braces 33 between the rakesupporting vehicle and the tractor,it becomes possible to make sharp turns with the tractor, which greatlyfacilitates the transportation of the load to the stack. If the rakesupporting vehicle is supported on wheels that have no caster action, asshown, for example,

in U. S. Patents NOS. 1,980,762; 2,185,794 and 1,654,326, a differentand very unsatisfactory method of steering is required which does notpermit sharp turns to be made. i

In Figure 5 an adjustable device has been 11- lustrated for effecting aconnection with the tractor. This device consists of a'tube 43 that iswelded to bars 44 and which is clamped in position on the ends of theframe members 21 by means of plates 45 and bolts 48. A pull bar 41extends through the tube 43 and this bar has spaced diametrical openings48 for the reception of bolts that may be shifted from one opening toanother so as to obtain the proper adjustment. Plates 49 are welded orotherwise secured to the pull bar and have openings for the reception ofa bolt 50 by means of which an attachment is made with the tool hitch ofthe tractor.

The mechanism shown in Figure 5 and described above permits the frame torock about the axis of the pull bar and also permits adjustments to bemade to suit the rake carrying vehicle to tractors of different makes.

Having described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

1. A. power operated load moving machine, comprising in combination, atractor, a load supporting vehicle attached thereto, said vehiclecomprising a frame that encloses the front wheels of the tractor, meansfor effecting a movable connection between the frame and the tractor ata point to the rear of the front wheels thereof, means for resistingrelative transverse movement of the frame and the tractor while Prmitting relative vertical movement, a pair of caster wheels attached tothe front end of the frame for supsame results can be obtained 2. Apower operated load moving machine,-

comprising in combination, porting vehicle attached a tractor, a loadsupthereto, said vehicle comprising a frame that encloses the frontwheels of the tractor, means for effecting a movable connection betweenthe frame and the tractor at a point to the rear of the front wheelsthereof, means for resisting relative transverse movement of the frameand the tractor while permitting relative vertical movement, a pair ofcaster wheels attached to the front end of the frame for supporting thefront end independently of the tractor, a pair of rigid support barssecured to the frame and projectingforwardly beyond the front endthereof, and a load carrying device supported by the bars for movementabout a horizontal pivot.

3. In a power operated sweep rake, porting vehicle having a frame in thea rakesupform of an 3 isosceles triangle in which the sides extendbeyond the base, a caster wheel attached to the end of each side, andsupport bars attached to the sides and the base, said bars projectingforwardly ofthe base for tiltably supporting a rake head.

4. In a power operated sweep rake of the type in-which the power isderived from a tractor. a rake supporting vehicle for attachment to thetractor, the vehicle comprising a frame which encircles thefront wheelsof the tractor and is provided at its rear end with means for movablyattaching it to the tractor, caster wheels secured to the frame near itsfront end, for supporting the front end independently of the tractor,means connecting the frame with the front end of the tractor forresisting relative transverse movement while permittingrelative-vertical movement, and means secured to the frame andprojecting forwardly thereof for supporting a rake head.

JOSEPH H. COPE. GAROLD C. J. GRAY.

